August 2013

08/26/2013

Rima Staines ~ ah she is a wonder. Here is the the first paragraph of her latest post:

Fær The Old English word (above) holds inside it many meanings. It is a going, a journey, a way, a journeying, an expedition, a road, a passing, a course, a march, a voyage, a path; it is a place where passage is possible, a thoroughfare, an entrance; it is that in which a journey or voyage is made - a vehicle, vessel, carriage, ship, ark; it is a body of persons who journey, a crew; it can also mean fear, peril, danger, sudden, intense and beautiful. (~ information gathered from the Bosworth-Toller Anglo-Saxon Dictionary)

I think you will really enjoy the whole piece ~ give yourself a treat and take some time to wander through some spectacular word-smithing, art-making (not just hers), sights and sounds. Rima's work is that of a storyteller ~ in every sense of the word.

When I need an "armchair travel", she is my go-to destination.

Once you've read Rima's story, scoot on over to another wondrous wayfarer to experience more...

08/25/2013

It astonishes and fills me with wonder to look at, drink in, and sometimes be bathed in it's light ~ the moon. After stitching a dreamscape of my favourite island, Etolin - watching the Blue Moon - itching to get stitching, I recalled these fabulous Lunar Exploration Geologic maps. Letting the names "roll off the tongue" is delicious and makes me laugh out loud with delight.

Mare Undarum (Sea of Waves). Mare Fecunditatis (Sea of Fecundity or Fruitfulness). Mare Spumans (Sea of Foam). Mare Crisium (Sea of Crises). ﻿﻿How the place names were selected, legends, and so much more... all of that you can see here.

Circles of passion, inspiration, joy, and maps of another kind that seem to naturally follow a "moon fascination": glorious moon stitching , such as a "grace" moon, or a Jude Hill "new moon story" and oh so. many. more artisans of cloth, stitch and moon stitching. So, my love of maps, mountains, seas, carries on, or continues, being stitched joyfully, into-onto-within, the fabric of my life. Circles within circles, making circles. Exuberantly living!

There are 12 Dresden Plate blocks, 16 inches square, on stained hospital sheeting. Colours are still vibrant, hand stitching is lovely. Each square has different fabrics, with the same sheeting for the center appliqued circle.

The Dresden Plate "type block", about 19 inches square, is appliqued onto a sturdy, unbleached muslin (sort of nubby). 3 are finished, 4 are basted onto the muslin, and 3 ready to baste. I have enough of the original muslin to baste 2 blocks. I just love the yellow center, that continues into a piece that is pointed, but the connecting pieces are rounded.

The quilted Sunbonnet blocks ~ about 10 1/2 inches inside the green sashing ~ are from my mother's quilt and fabric stash. They were cut from a well-loved, well-worn, quilt that went everywhere when I was a small girl. I have the sense that she was planning to use them in pillows, or? Flour sack and housedress fabrics. Hand quilted, cotton batting.

My mother-in-law gave me the Dresden Plate pattern ~ on brown paper bag and tag board ~ as a very young mother, and together we made crib and baby blankets, as well as full size for disaster relief groups. My mother and I made several types of Sunbonnet quilts, crib and baby, for Relief Societies of local churchs. I machine sewed the tops, and she hand quilted them. The templates are in a well-worn manilla envelope, with a grocery list or something like on one side, and sketch of a baby hat on the other.

What am I going to do with them? I have some ideas ~ careful cleaning, and gleaning some period sashing and materials, threads and all. But that's later. The why I went to storage, lugged dozens of boxes about, to drag home the box with these, comes first.

In my mail a few days ago, I received the most unexpectedly powerful piece beautiful handwriting that sent me immediately on a mission. My mother-in-law's writing, and the new gift-writing, are astonishingly similar. I went directly to "the storage list", and off to my storage locker, as if pulled by a magnet! I had to find them, bring them home. Oh how delightful it was to take them out of their box, and unwrapping them from their tissue.

So. Now, I'm in the process of hand writing a little "provenance" for these to each of my off-spring, ~ cloth story, my story, their story. These humble blocks, they make me so joyful, grateful, inspired, happy...I LOVE them just they way they are.

This is going to be such fun ~ continuing the beautiful hand writing of these women ~ all stitching, all wise, all part of my life fabric.

My sister and I find ourselves"sick with longing" for Alaska in July. We describe the feeling as "one foot in concrete, the other one flailing to get free"...

I had this beautifully hand dyed fabric from Deb laying on my table one evening. That night I had a dream - I believe sparked by this fabric - that I was flying at 5,000 feet over my favourite island, Etolin, and landing on Navy Lake, which our family always referred to as "Gem Lake". I started stitching the next day, before I found my topo maps, what I had seen in my dream. Lots of fun stitching and "winging" the lumpy bits. After stitching, I compared to the maps and charts that I still have.To me, the stitching sampler and the topo maps are quite similar with respect to topography and land shapes.

I've missed not being able to fly any longer, but this bit of cloth makes me feel like I've just gone flying. I rather like it.